Chapter 5 The Blood Within

The cold seeped into Cindy's bones long before the morning light reached the forest floor.

She hadn't slept.

Even with the warmth of the fire and Aeron close by, Cindy's mind refused to rest. Shadows haunted her thoughts-twisting whispers from the Hunter, Cyrus's warning, the prophecy, and that terrifying truth she didn't want to believe.

She wasn't normal.

She never had been.

Now she had a mark on her skin and a world she barely understood breathing down her neck.

The scent of moss and earth filled the den as early sunlight filtered through the cracks above. Cindy sat up slowly, careful not to wake Liora, who still lay wrapped in furs beside her. Her friend had lost so much blood... but she was alive. For now.

She glanced at Aeron. He was leaning against the wall, half-asleep, arms crossed over his chest, hair messy and falling over his forehead. His shirt was torn from last night's fight, exposing part of his chest-bruised, scratched, but still strong.

Cindy looked away quickly.

He wasn't just some mysterious guy anymore.

He was something else. Something more. Dangerous... yet oddly protective.

And that made her heart beat in a way she didn't understand.

---

Outside, the forest was alive with the sounds of morning-birds, wind rustling through leaves, the distant howl of a wolf pack.

Cindy followed a narrow path deeper into the trees, her fingers tracing the edge of her cloak.

She needed space. Time to think. To breathe.

But she wasn't alone for long.

"I knew you'd try to leave."

Aeron's voice was low and calm as he stepped from behind a tree.

"I wasn't leaving," Cindy said quickly. "Just walking."

He tilted his head. "You look like someone trying to run."

"I'm not," she snapped.

Aeron took a slow step toward her. "Then why do you look so scared?"

"I'm not scared," she whispered, almost convincing herself. "I just don't know who I am anymore."

A pause.

Then Aeron said, "I do."

Cindy's breath caught.

"You're the girl who stood between her friend and a Hunter. The girl who walked into a haunted mansion alone. The girl who still hasn't given up-no matter how many monsters appear."

She shook her head, voice cracking. "But I don't feel strong. I feel like the ground keeps shifting beneath me and I'm just pretending not to fall."

Aeron gently touched her shoulder. "Then let me help you stand."

Cindy looked up at him.

For the first time, she saw something flicker in his eyes-not just fierceness, but pain. Like he'd known what it meant to fall. To break. And maybe that's why he could see right through her walls.

---

Back at the den, Cyrus gathered everyone in a circle around the fire.

"The mark is awake," he announced. "Which means they'll come for her again. Stronger. Smarter."

Cindy sat beside Liora and Aeron, her heart hammering.

"What do they want from me?" she asked.

Cyrus turned to her. "Your blood."

The den fell silent.

Cindy blinked. "What?"

"The blood of the marked carries ancient power," Cyrus said. "It can open doors long sealed. Awaken beasts long buried. If they get to you... they'll use you to raise the Old One."

Aeron stood. "No. That can't happen."

Cyrus nodded. "Then we train her. Now."

---

Training was brutal.

Cindy spent hours in the clearing, learning how to move, dodge, fight, and most importantly-how to listen to the mark.

Cyrus placed her hands over a stone embedded with moonfire. "Feel the energy. Don't control it. Let it flow through you."

But every time she tried, nothing happened.

The mark stayed cold.

"No," Cyrus said. "You're holding back. You're afraid of what you are."

Cindy growled in frustration. "I don't even know what I am!"

He leaned close. "Then find out."

A sudden spark flared in her palm.

The stone glowed.

Her mark pulsed with light.

Cindy gasped as power flooded her chest-raw, wild, and alive.

---

Later that night, as she washed her face in the nearby stream, Cindy saw her reflection ripple-and change.

Her eyes flashed silver for a moment.

She stumbled back.

"What...?"

Aeron stepped out of the shadows, as if summoned by her fear.

"I saw it," she said. "My eyes..."

"You're changing," he said. "The mark's not just waking up. It's merging with you."

She stared at the water again. "Am I becoming... one of them?"

Aeron's expression softened. "You're becoming you. Whoever that is."

---

As days passed, Cindy grew stronger.

Faster.

But also more conflicted.

At night, she dreamed of things that weren't hers-memories of silver forests, burning cities, a woman with golden hair standing in moonlight, whispering her name.

"Cindy... it's time..."

Then flames. Always flames.

---

One evening, while patrolling the outer woods, Cindy and Aeron found a trail of broken branches and black ash-signs of another Shadow Hunter nearby.

"Too close," Aeron muttered.

Suddenly, they heard a scream.

Cindy ran.

They found a hybrid boy-no more than twelve-being dragged by a dark, spider-like creature with four legs and glowing red eyes.

"No!" Cindy shouted.

Without thinking, she raised her hand.

Moonlight exploded from her palm.

The creature shrieked and vaporized into dust.

Cindy stood frozen, her heart racing.

She'd done that.

With just a thought.

The boy ran into her arms, crying. "Thank you..."

Aeron was staring at her. "You're not like them," he whispered.

"I know," she whispered back. "I'm something else."

---

But as the moon rose high that night, Cindy stood alone on a cliff, staring at the stars.

Her fingers traced the edge of her mark.

What if Cyrus was right?

What if her blood could awaken the Old One?

What if she wasn't meant to be a hero-but the beginning of something terrible?

Behind her, Aeron appeared again, quiet as the wind.

"You okay?" he asked.

"No," she said honestly. "But I don't want to be alone."

"You're not."

They stood in silence, side by side.

And for the first time, Cindy allowed herself to lean into him.

His arm slipped around her shoulders, warm and steady.

They didn't speak.

They didn't need to.

Because in that quiet moment, under the moonlight, a bond was forming-slow, hesitant, but real.

---

In the distance, inside the ruined part of the forest, something stirred beneath the ground.

A claw burst through the soil.

A raspy voice echoed in the dark:

"The blood is close.

The mark has bloomed.

Soon... she will come to me."